


There’s This Kid I Know

by EthanTheAnnus



Series: Fuck it I’ll do it my fucking self [1]
Category: Daybreak (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Eli Cardashyan Needs A Hug, Eli lives, F/F, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fix-It, Found Family, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Soulmarks, until it’s not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22929865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthanTheAnnus/pseuds/EthanTheAnnus
Summary: Soulmarks. That was the rumour, the explanation as to what they were.Strange tattoos, seared into their skin, apparently right after the bombs went off. Josh’s own was a spear, right over his heart.Obviously, Sam would have the same. Sam was smart and fierce, and of course, the spear would represent her and him.Ithadto. Everyone else Josh knew who could have possibly survived the apocalypse hated his guts. There was no one else it could be.-OR-Josh is sure Sam is his soulmate. It’s quite a shock when he finds out he’s wrong.
Relationships: Eli Cardashyan & Josh Wheeler, Eli Cardashyan/Josh Wheeler, Josh Wheeler & Angelica Green, Josh Wheeler & Wesley Fists, Samaira "Sam" Dean/Mona Lisa (Daybreak), Samaira “Sam” Dean/Josh Wheeler (past), Wesley Fists/Turbo Pokaski | Turbo Bro Jock
Series: Fuck it I’ll do it my fucking self [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648000
Comments: 10
Kudos: 183





	There’s This Kid I Know

Soulmarks. That was the rumour, the explanation as to what they were.

Strange tattoos, seared into their skin, apparently right after the bombs went off. Josh’s own was a spear, right over his heart. 

Obviously, Sam would have the same. Sam was smart and fierce, and of course, the spear would represent her and him. 

It  _ had  _ to. Everyone else Josh knew who could have possibly survived the apocalypse hated his guts. There was no one else it could be.

It was a soulmark for a reason; it was meant to match with his  _ soulmate.  _ It wouldn’t pair him with someone who quite literally wanted to kill him, would it?

Then again, it was a side effect of the bombs. It could be completely random, pairing him with- Josh shudders at the thought- someone like  _ Turbo _ , for instance.

All he could do was wait, and continue searching for Sam. He’d know soon enough; when he found her, the first thing he’d do is show her his mark.  _ Surely  _ she’d bear the same one.

\\\\*//

When Josh runs into Wesley, he wants nothing to do with him.

When they then run into Angelica, Josh wants even less to do with her than he does Wesley.

When Eli locks them in the side of the mall with the “Witch”, Josh silently swears that he’ll kill the other teen one day.

When the “Witch” turns out to be Crumble, Josh believes that maybe not  _ every  _ recent event in the apocalypse is a bad one.

Maybe the world isn’t against him after all.

\\\\*//

Josh doesn’t know when they became a tribe. A family. 

He couldn’t pinpoint the moment he stopped hating Wesley and began viewing him as a friend. He couldn’t tell you when he started viewing Angelica as a younger sibling rather than as a pyromaniac who would kill him for looking at her wrong. He didn’t have a clue when Crumble became like a mother to Angelica. 

Most of all, Josh didn’t know when Eli stopped being an annoying, idiotic prick and became someone Josh viewed as almost an equal. Not quite, because Eli was, well, an idiot, but almost.

Despite their differences, though, they were family now. Or the closest Josh would ever have to a family ever again.

He would go to the ends of the apocalypse-ridden earth for these people, and if it came down to a fight, he would stand against the other tribes, even if he had to stand alone, to protect his  _ family. _

\\\\*//

“Eli?” Josh’s voice echoes over the mall, and not for the first time does he curse the large size, and how hard it is to find anyone in there. When he gets no response, he repeats it, this time louder.

Again, no response.

“Eli, you fucker, where are you?” Josh half-yells.

“Sup, Josh?” Is Eli’s easy, laid-back reply as he casually emerges from a very nearby store.  _ Dick. _

“Angelica’s called a “cult meeting,” whatever she means by that. She wants us all there, apparently.”

“So? I’m not one of your stupid tribe.” Eli produced a bag of crisps from absolutely fucking  _ nowhere _ , popping a couple into his mouth and chewing loudly. Josh let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed onto Eli’s arm, yanking him along behind him.

“She said  _ everyone _ dude, and last I checked, you’re part of everyone.”

His back to Eli as he dragged him across the mall, he didn’t see the small, happy smile that spread across the other teen’s face.

\\\\*//

Josh didn’t know what to do when Wesley tried to kill him, and he had even less of an idea when he found out Eli was in on it. 

When Wesley admitted he and Angelica had faked Sam’s death, Josh knew he couldn’t let them stay.

The hardest part of kicking them out was the hurt, kicked-puppy expression on Eli’s face; Josh found the easiest answer was to turn the other way.

\\\\*//

Josh had to kick Eli out a grand total of eight times before he realised that he needed him and that he needed Wesley and Angelica too. They were a tribe, after all.

“I shouldn’t have kicked you guys out.”

Eli turned from where he was, midway through pulling on the lasts of his Baron Triumph costume. “What did you say?”

“I said I was wrong.” Josh was already regretting this. 

“If you think this is gonna get me to hand over the costume-”

“Dude, I’m trying to  _ apologise _ .”

Josh watched as Eli froze up, emotions flicking across his face far too quickly for Josh to even try to process.

“About time,” was all Eli eventually said, and Josh tried to ignore the way that, for once, it warmed his heart instead of igniting him with annoyance.

\\\\*//

There was red, red blood everywhere, and a slash across Eli’s stomach, and blood bubbling from his lips, and “Eli, Eli, Eli,” fell from Josh’s lips like a prayer. His hand was pressed hard against the wound, staunching the flow of blood to some extent, and if Eli wasn’t literally  _ dying _ , maybe Josh would have noticed the soulmark on Eli’s stomach.

Eli  _ was  _ dying, however, and Josh was pretty damn focused on not letting the annoying teen bleed out. Without a second thought, he pulled off his shirt, pressing it tightly to the wound.

Eli’s gaze flicked down to the mark on his chest, and some sort of understanding Josh couldn’t place came over his face. 

“Josh? When you get to the school…”

“Anything,” Josh responded absently as he began to try and move Eli. If he could just get him into the cage, he could get him back to the mall…

“You touch my Magic: The Gathering cards and I will haunt your ass. You don’t wanna fuck with paranormal Eli. I’m terrifying as shit.”

At that, Eli slumped, going limp; Josh clutched him tighter, lifting him into the cage. He was still breathing. Josh still had time.

\\\\*//

“It can be our happily ever after.”

“No.”

Josh’s smile faded at that single word. “No?”

“Yeah, no.” There was no remorse on Sam’s face.

“But… We’re soulmates. I’ve been searching for so long for you.” To try and prove his point, Josh pulled his shirt neck down enough to reveal the mark over his heart. Sam winced, almost sympathetically.

“Your mark doesn’t match mine.” Sam’s gaze turned to someone in the crowd. “Mona’s does.”

Josh felt the final shreds of hope he had fade as Sam moved away from him, declaring herself leader what remained of the Jocks. If the fact that his soulmate  _ wasn’t  _ Sam didn’t kill him, the way the apocalypse had changed her surely would.

\\\\*//

Josh didn’t mean to find himself at Eli’s bedside, but he found himself there regardless. The injured boy was still unconscious, not that it was a surprise; he had just been hacked at by Hoyles that morning, after all.

“What’s our next move?” 

Josh glanced up, spotting Wesley leaning against the doorframe to the room. Alright, so calling it a room was a little ambitious; it was really an old dollar store converted rather hastily into an infirmary, with sheets taken from a furniture store hung up to add some kind of privacy.

“Next move?” Josh questioned. “Against the Jocks?”

“Well, yeah,” Wesley said, stepping in the room. “Sam’s the Jocks’ leader now, and she’s smart. They’ll be more dangerous now.”

“I don’t think Sam will want war,” Josh responded flatly. “I think she’ll leave us alone.”

“No, you  _ want  _ her to leave us alone. We need to scope out some territory, start tagging stuff. Show them that it’s  _ our  _ turf, man.”

“We don’t need to show anything to  _ anyone, _ ” Josh insisted. “We have allies; the Cheermazons, the Game Overs, even the AV club if we bribe them well enough. Sam knows that.”

Wesley sighed. “You make a good point. Just… don’t let your mind stay on what happened today for too long.”

It was only after Wesley had left that Josh realised his friend had been trying to help him, trying to focus his mind on anything except his own pain. Josh laid his hand over the soulmark on his heart and let out a sigh, wondering who in hell his soulmate was.

\\\\*//

Nothing made sense, not in the apocalypse. 

At first, Josh had revelled in this, enjoying the chaos and the calm. He’d liked how the rules of the world had changed so drastically, how he could simply decide to do something and do it.

His mission had been to save Sam. His soulmate.

He’d met a hitch in the plan; well, multiple. Sam didn’t love him. Sam wasn’t his soulmate. Sam had taken over as leader of the Jocks.

Josh didn’t know his place in the world anymore; didn’t know the  _ Daybreakers  _ place in the world anymore.

\\\\*//

On the third day Josh spent sitting by Eli’s side, he woke up. Relief flooded Josh the moment Eli’s eyes fluttered open, despite how annoying he’d originally found the slightly younger boy. 

“Josh?” Eli’s weak gaze turned to him. “Did you touch my fucking Magic cards?”

Josh burst out laughing, but it quickly turned to him crying. “You’re alive.”

Eli squinted at him suspiciously. “Maybe you  _ did  _ touch my Magic cards…”

Josh let out a strangled laugh again, stepping closer to the bed Eli was laying on. He wasn’t sure why he did it; maybe to try and confirm he really was alive, maybe to hug him.

What ended up happening was that Josh dropped to his knees, his head landing on Eli’s chest.

“Ow, fuck, that  _ hurt _ ,” Eli whined.

“Sorry,” Josh managed, still unable to stop crying. After a moment, Eli’s hand came to rest in his hair. It was nice, comforting…

“You better not have touched my Magic cards, Wheeler.”

\\\\*//

“You brought me here to talk about  _ soulmarks? _ Wes, I-”

“Just give me a moment, Josh.” Wesley took a breath. “Your soulmark, it-”

“What would you know about my soulmark?” Josh interrupted.

“We all saw it that day, Josh. KJ was on infirmary duty late in the night, changing Eli’s bandages, and well…”

“Well,  _ what? _ ” Josh snapped, even though he was pretty damn sure he knew exactly what.

“His was the same.”

“Eli fucking Cardashyan is  _ not  _ my soulmate,” Josh hissed, even though his gut told him otherwise. Turning on his heel, he left the room, ignoring Wesley’s calls for him to come back.

\\\\*//

“What do you make of this… soulmark shit?” Josh had found himself, for about the tenth time that week, sitting by Eli’s bedside in his free time. By now, the slash on the other boy’s stomach had nearly healed.

Eli tipped his head to one side. “It’s pretty cool, honestly. Knowing there’s someone out there whose mark matches yours.”

Josh shifted a little, resisting the urge to scratch at the mark on his chest. “I guess.”

“I get it, bro, you’re still upset over your super-hot girlfriend not being your soulmate,” Eli said with a hint of smugness to his tone.

“Shut the fuck up,” Josh replied without any real malice.

“You’re just jealous because I’m not having relationship problems,” Eli said, leaning back, arms stretched up behind his head. His shirt rode up a little and Josh swore his heart stopped as his gaze flicked over Eli’s soulmate, which was, in fact, the same spear Josh bore over his heart.

“Fuck you,” Josh managed, swallowing harshly.

“You wish,” Eli responded instantly, and at that moment Josh knew he was absolutely  _ fucked _ .

\\\\*//

Josh couldn’t help the jealousy that rose in him the times he patrolled and saw Sam and Mona together. They were soulmates; why couldn’t he be happy for them?

His soulmark and Sam’s weren’t even remotely similar. He’d glimpsed hers once- it was a startling, bright blue.

Why couldn’t he just move on? Sam wasn’t his soulmate. Eli was.

God,  _ Eli  _ was his soulmate.

\\\\*//

“I can’t seem to let her go, Wes.”

“She’s not yours,” was all Wesley said in response.

“I know,” Josh sighed. “But… I  _ want  _ her to be.”

“She’s not your goddamn soulmate, dude! Eli is!”

_ Thunk. _

Josh whirled to spot Eli, out of his bed for the first time in a solid week, a game console box at his feet, hands limp but still outstretched slightly, telling Josh he was carrying the box, to begin with.

“Eli-” he started, but before he could say another word, Eli had fled.

\\\\*//

Josh found Eli on the roof.

“Were you gonna tell me anytime soon?”

“I don’t know,” Josh admitted, sitting down next to him by the edge. “Maybe?”

Eli let out an emotionless laugh. “You know, it doesn’t even bother me that it’s you. What bothers me is that you didn’t tell me, asshole.”

The insult stung a little, but Josh knew he deserved it. “I’m… I’m just working through some things right now.”

“No, I get it. You want  _ her _ , the hot one, not me. Face it, Josh,” Eli said, meeting his gaze, “I’m a loser.”

\\\\*//

Josh felt bad. Feeling bad was something Josh had done a lot during the last month.

He felt bad about Sam, about having spent six months looking for her and still failing to find her.

He felt bad about trying to abandon Wesley and Angelica when he first ran into them.

He felt bad that the golf team all died.

He felt bad for casting Wesley, Eli and Angelica out.

He felt  _ really  _ bad for letting Eli get stabbed.

Now? He felt bad for being the next person in a long line of people to hurt Eli.

\\\\*//

“You’re not a loser.”

Eli jumped from his place in front of a tv, whipping around to face Josh. “Fuck, dude, you can’t sneak up on a gamer like that.”

“You’re not a loser, Eli,” Josh repeated.

“Damn right I’m not, I absolutely  _ killed  _ that round.”

“Eli, would you just  _ listen  _ for once? I think you’re cool, man. You’re part of our tribe and our family. You’re not a loser.”

As Eli turned back to his game, Josh could have sworn he saw him smile.

\\\\*//

It was about two weeks before Josh found he wasn’t missing Sam, or resenting her choices and the fact that their soulmarks didn’t match.

It was another week after that before Josh realised he liked Eli. As in,  _ like  _ liked.

He wanted to blame the soulmark, at first, but he realised quickly it was more than that. It was the way Eli cared quietly, doing tiny things for others that went unnoticed by almost everyone.

A sandwich for Angelica. Sword polish for Wesley. Proper bedding for Crumble.

It was the way that Eli’s stupid, asshole remarks were underlaid with a joking tone. How they never really seemed to sting as much as they should, and how there was some affection there.

It was Eli himself. Josh Wheeler was head over heels for Eli fucking Cardashyan, and he wasn’t even mad about it.

\\\\*//

“Eli. Patrol.” Josh tossed a can of red spray paint to the other boy, who caught it, looking surprised.

“Patrol?”

“Re-tagging our borders, checking there’s not too many Ghoulies on our turf. All that fun stuff.”

“Why me?” Eli sounded small, and Josh wondered he’d barged in on him thinking about soulmarks again.

“Everyone’s been on patrol with me except you,” Josh said, knowing that this was only half the truth. “So come on.”

After a moment, Eli got up and followed Josh out of the mall.

\\\\*//

It was growing dark when the two returned. Ghoulies were starting to prowl, and Eli seemed a little nervous because of it. Josh led the way back into the mall, via the roof, and paused to look down on the apocalypse strewn city.

“It’s kind of beautiful,” he said quietly. “Ghoulies aside, that is.”

Eli glanced over the edge and scrambled back with a small yelp. “Y-yep, super pretty.”

“Something bothering you?” 

“Not a big fan of heights.”

“Ah. Fair enough, dude.” Josh took a final glance over the edge before he began to walk towards the entry back into the mall. Eli quickly followed him, seeming very eager to get off the roof.

Once inside, Josh turned to Eli, taking a deep breath. “I know what I said a few weeks ago about soulmates.”

Eli stared down at the ground. “Yeah?”

“Sam… she was never mine. I think I can see that now.” Josh took another deep breath, and reached for Eli’s hand, surprised when the other boy didn’t immediately pull away. “I… I want to try.”

“Only if it’s not just to get over her.” Eli’s voice was small, quiet. Josh could practically feel the insecurity and fear radiating off of him.

“There’s this kid I know,” Josh began slowly. “Kind of an idiot. Smart when he wants to be. Far too protective of his Magic: The Gathering cards.”

This earned him a soft laugh from Eli, so he continued.

“He’s stupidly brave, too. A little bit handsome.”

“A little bit?” Eli gasped, sounding more like his usual self than ever. “Wheeler, I’ll have you know-”

“Kind of an asshole, too,” Josh said smoothly, cutting him off. “But I care about him. He’s become family, even if he does infuriate me.”

Silence fell between them for a moment. Eli lifted his gaze to meet Josh’s, hope sparkling in his eyes.

“There’s this kid I know,” Eli said softly. “A complete idiot, but very handsome. I’d kind of like to kiss him right now.”

“What’s stopping you?” Josh asked, and the words had barely left his mouth when Eli’s lips were colliding with his own. There was a spark there, a fiery tingling wherever Eli touched him, setting him ablaze.

The whole soulmate thing? It made kissing a  _ lot  _ better.

The two broke apart, and, after a moment, Josh muttered, “There’s this kid I know. He just kissed me, and I’d like it to happen again.”

**Author's Note:**

> The show is severely lacking in the fics department.


End file.
